Footy fans will not have Ty Vickery to kick around anymore.
Vickery will not have anything to kick around after pulling off a surprise retirement announcement.
Vickery may not have anything to kick any longer, but he did have some things to say.
“It hasn’t been an easy call to make. Football has been a huge part of my life, but I don’t have the same passion for the game that I once did.The break gave me a real chance to think about the future and solidified that I’m ready for the next chapter of my life.”
He went on, at length, but the gist of it is that he is done with the AFL.
Vickery played 119 games for the Richmond Tigers, and given the way the 2017 season turned out, he must have rued the decision to abandon Richmond to play for the Hawthorn Hawks. To say that move did not pan out is a major understatement.
He was selected by Richmond with the eighth overall pick in the 2008 National Draft and appeared to be paying dividends for the Tigers, although he did not make an immediate impact. He had his best year in 2011, when he got on ground for all 22 of the Tigers’ games. He made it to the elimination round in 2013, but that game resulted in a loss to the Carlton Blues.
In the 2017 AFL Premiership competition, Vickery was limited to six appearances for the Hawks. He booted just two goals and spent most of the past two years on the VFL level, so his enthusiasm for the game declined. The end of the 2017 season offered him a chance for reflection and his ultimate decision was the same many a high selection has made when expectations of glory went unfulfilled.
Vickery still had a year left of his contract with the Hawks, but no one thought that he would ever play a large role for the side, so it is to his credit that he made the decision to call time and move onto another phase of his life.
